Aberdeen, WA: prototyping then taking a hike with the Pecks

This morning we said our goodbyes to Seattle and headed southwest to Aberdeen.  Oh, did I mention that we picked up a rental car last night?  And that we used our “cute points” to get a free upgrade to A RED FIAT 500?!?!?!

So this little guy is going to be what accompanies SparkTruck until our Bay Area pit stop at the end of the month.  CUTE!

As I was saying, we headed southwest to Aberdeen this morning to visit Aaron’s hometown and run workshops at the library where his mom works.  We’d heard all sorts of fun stories about Aaron’s childhood in Aberdeen and gotten some nice press write-ups (like this one) and were really excited to do some exploring in the area.

When we got to Aberdeen a bit early, we wanted to grab a quick bite, and I got super excited when I saw a Pizza Hut lunch buffet just a few blocks from the library.  While Eugene didn’t appreciate the incredibly delicious cheap crappy pizza, I gorged myself on mini slices and more importantly dessert pizza and breadsticks.  So much nostalgia.

To make things even more exciting, the 2-hour workshop we’d planned to run, Creature Copters, decided to not work when we tested it, and we spent all of lunch thinking of how we might quickly prototype a new workshop.  Somewhere between my 2nd and 3rd desserts, I remembered something Klutz’s John Cassidy told us about how launching things was always a hit with our target age group.  And thus “Creature Cannons” were born.

It went pretty well for a first go-round, and we have some action items on how to make it better next time.  But kids seemed to like it.

And we even met the mayor!

After the workshop, the Pecks took us to see some local sights including John Edmark’s (one of our favorite teachers) family’s house, a rain gauge, and a beautiful lake.

All in all, we had an amazing time in Aberdeen and are so glad we were able to stop by.  Mr. and Mrs. Peck, thanks so much for helping set this up, and for being amazing Aberdeen hosts.

Next stop Beaverton, OR where we’re making a quick stop at Nike before heading to Portland to meet up with Kathayoon!

- Jason